After The War: A New Age
by TheWordThief
Summary: When the fighting's won, what comes next? How do those who did not perish on the battlefield recover, move on, actually live? Our heroes must pick themselves up and learn to live with their past, now the war's won. Will either be a series of connected one-shots or multi chapter fic, depending on what works best. Canon pairings, will be Romione centric, aims to fill in the 19 yrs.
1. Aftermath

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to the wonderful JK Rowling.**

**This is an update of the first chapter, I spotted a mistake and had to change it for my own mental sanity, I'm about to write the second instalment!**

This was not her home. The home she had known for six too short years had been a towering, majestic castle, welcoming and bright. This strange yet familiar place was crumbling, desolate, dark, illuminated by flashes of white, of red, of green, the air pierced by shouts and the occasional scream.

Then suddenly it was all over, huge and triumphant yet almost anti-climatic as the monster's body hit the floor.

And after the screams and shouts of celebration were finished, there was only a silence that endured long after the first hesitant murmurs of conversation began to grow.

She didn't know where Harry had gone, having to elected to return to the Great Hall with Ron, sensing that her best friend needed time alone, whereas her other best friend, boyfriend, whatever he now was, needed her as he faced his family for the first decent conversation with most of them for 9 months, held over the dead body and vacant, staring eyes of his brother.

But when the reunion was over and he stopped leaning on her for support, she faced the inevitable she had been avoiding. She could finally sit down and think. And then it hit her, the magnitude of it all, the horror she had been trying desperately to suppress. But she did not want to think. Because if she thought, she would remember.

She barely noticed it when her old Transfiguration teacher came and sat down next down next to her, hesitating slightly before putting an arm around her.

"Miss Granger?"

There was no response, the blank face gazing out into the distance with horror-filled eyes. McGonagall, usually so stern, felt her heart aching for the girl, one of her house and, loathe as she was to admit it, a favourite. She had missed the three of them and later, in the privacy of her chambers, she would weep silent, bitter tears for Harry and the childhood he never had, for Ron and Hermione and all they sacrificed for friendship, for all the children (even those who were of age and had been for a while she still thought of as children) who had lost so much, fought so hard and grown up so fast. She knew later she would weep for the laughter that had been extinguished from George Weasley's eyes, the many children with tortured faces, lost expressions, pale faces and for the rows upon rows, from both wars, that had given their lives. Gideon, Fabian, Dorcas, Marlene, the Longbottoms who hadn't even had the luxury of death, Sirius, Lily, James, Remus, Nymphadora, Cedric Diggory, Albus, Fred Weasley, even little (though she remembered with a jolt of surprise that in fact he had been a young man) Colin Creevey.

But first to do other things. For of all the lost children, none looked worse than Hermione Granger.

Her hair was lank and lifeless, her face grey-white, in stark contrast to the white circles carved under her unnaturally bright eyes. She had aged since Minerva had last seen her, no longer the conscientious schoolgirl but a battle-weary soldier. Even as she sat down next to her she could feel the ribs jutting out of the girl's almost skeletal frame. She wanted to know what the three had been through these past months but looking at Hermione, she was afraid to ask.

Seeing that the girl still hadn't responded, she tried again.

"Hermione?"

This time the girl slowly looked round, subconsciously putting a ready hand on her wand but upon seeing the professor, she relaxed slightly.

McGonagall smiled.

"It's good to see you Miss Granger."

"You too Professor."

The girl was guarded, wary. McGonagall sighed.

"Hermione, it's alright to grieve."

And Hermione Granger broke.


	2. Comfort

**Disclaimer: The usual. Harry Potter isn't mine, it belongs to JK Rowling, who is amazing and continues to constantly inspire me.**

**Thankyou so much to the lovely people who posted reviews, I'm so glad people like this so far and I hope this new chapter doesn't disappoint! The chapters are unlikely to be very long as they will act as snapshots into the recovery process, however, you never know, that's just the feeling and ideas I seem to be getting at the moment!**

_ Chapter 2- Comfort _

She didn't know how long she sat and sobbed, McGonagall's arm around her shoulders in a kind but ultimately fruitless gesture. A slight pressure on her hands made her look down to see them encased in a pair bigger and rougher than her own, familiar in their warmth and comfort. She looked up and saw, as expected, Ron Weasley, worn, tired, shoulders drooped with the heavy weight of grief. McGonagall looked up to and was confronted with yet another former pupil who seemed to have aged years in just one.

He tore his eyes away from Hermione and focused instead on his former Head of House, silently pleading with her to let him take Hermione out of the Great Hall.

"Dormitories. So she can sleep." He mouthed.

She was about to protest, forming arguments such as hospital wings, a warm drink, a meal- they both looked in dire need of one- but something in the lines of his face and in his eyes stopped her. Full of some sort of desperate longing, no, need, his eyes conveyed what simple words could not and she found her self nodding, dimly wondering in the corner of her mind if there was something more than just friendship there now; she could see as they walked out of the hall, arms round each other, that something was present that hadn't been there when she had seen them last.

Sadly, she watched them walk through the wooden doors of the Great Hall; children no more but soldiers instead.

Ron and Hermione reached the Gryffindor common room, miraculously untouched by the destruction that had swept through much of the rest of the castle. The scene was so unchanged, so familiar Hermione felt her eyes sting with tears once again and she all at once realised how tired she was. She looked over at Ron and saw that he too, looked ready to fall asleep where he stood.

"We should sleep." Her voice was cracked and hoarse with grief and fatigue.

"Yeah. Yeah, we should." Ron's voice was distant and she knew that his mid, like her own, was far away, reliving the horrors they had just witnessed.

"Ron, I…I don't want to be alone. Not just yet." She sounded pathetic to her own ears but Ron didn't seem to care. Perhaps he felt the same. Perhaps they needed each other.

"Same. Here, then?" and he gestured to the sofa by the fireplace. They lay down, arms entwined around each other, bodies pressed close together, as though reassuring themselves that here was one other living, breathing person who would not leave them.

In a hollow, quiet voice, devoid of any sort of victory, Ron sleepily exclaimed to the exhausted girl beside him.

"Blimey Hermione, we won. Harry won. It's over."

A little while later, still wrapped in each others arms, they drifted of into sleep, seeking whatever comfort it could give. That was how Harry would find them a few hours later, curled up on the sofa, as he stumbled down the stairs, still wondering if Kreacher would bring him that sandwich.

**Hope you enjoyed it, please review and tell what you think!**


	3. Freedom

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it all belongs to JK Rowling.**

**Thankyou to everyone who has reviewed/ followed/ favourited so far! It makes my day, thankyou so much!**

**heronlove and m1347: I'm planning on a (very) awkward conversation between Hermione and Ron so they can, er, 'discuss' their relationship...and the reunion between Harry and Ginny, both of which are coming soon! (Next few chapters) I'm glad you're interested in how their relationships are developing!**

**Luc16: I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I love McGonagall's POV as well, it adds a different perspective, so she will be making another appearance very soon. :) **

**nirdoodle and Sleepwalkingluna14: Thankyou so much, I hope you're still enjoying it and thanks for being my first two reviews for this story!**

**And finally, to Guest: I'm so glad you like it so far and thanks for the tip; you're right, it does sound a bit American but I'm English and use it so it sounded all right to me but obviously, it is set in 1998 so not as much American slang would have been used by British teenagers so thanks for pointing it out, I obviously want to make this as accurate and in-character as possible, so pointing out things like that is really helpful! :)**

****Chapter 3: Freedom

Harry Potter was exhausted. He had slept peacefully for the first time in months, his body so fatigued he managed to sleep soundly despite the horrors he was sure would plague him in the nights to come. And yet, despite this, every inch of his body, bruised and battered, ached with tiredness. The 17 yr old wanted nothing more than curl up into a ball on his bed and sleep for days. However, unfortunately, there were pressing matters to attend to. Ginny. Her name sent a pang of longing through his heart and he hurriedly forced his mind to move on. The Weasleys, his surrogate family. Neville and Luna, who had been holding the fort with-her- here at Hogwarts whilst they had been gone. Even, if he was being honest, McGonagall and Kingsley. All of them deserved to know at least some of what the three of them had been doing this year and how he had miraculously cheated death a second time. He owed them the truth after so many lies. And then, of course, there was the clean-up, the huge task of restoring Hogwarts to it's former glory. The inevitable funerals. Sleep could wait. He had work to do.

Stumbling bleary-eyed into the common room, the sight that met his tired eyes brought a small smile to his face. His two best friends lay, fast asleep, curled around each other on the sofa. As he watched, Hermione stirred and slowly opened her eyes, looking around for a minute before her gaze settled on him standing, awkwardly in the doorway, exhausted, battle-worn, scarred. Smiling.

"Harry!" She smiled at him in greeting before remembering where she was, or rather, who she was with and blushing.

Harry smirked, the carefree expression feeling foreign as he realised that, for the first time since he had heard the now defunct prophecy, a huge invisible weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He nodded towards Ron.

"Took you two long enough."

Her blush deepened.

"It's not…we're not…we haven't even talked about the…" She was interrupted by Harry chuckling quietly.

"Oh shut up." She scolded fondly. Before Harry could retort, Ron woke up and for a while the three just sat there, revelling in the peace that seemed to have descended onto the castle.

And then suddenly all three of them were laughing, crying, hugging, all at the same time, as though they had gone mad, although, as Hermione reflected, they probably all had to have gone a little mad by now…

"We're free. We're finally free." Harry whispered when they'd calmed down.

"You mean _you're _finally free, mate." Ron corrected him. "You were the one with the prophecy. Me and Hermione just tagged along for the fun of it."

Harry looked at his two best friends, eyes suddenly burning as it hit him just how much they'd sacrificed to come with him, right from the moment they'd told him they were joining him in his quest to save the Philosopher's Stone.

"I-I never really thanked you for…" He struggled to put everything he was feeling into words. "I-thankyou. Both of you. Just- thanks for everything."

They beamed at him, Ron and Hermione, bruised and scarred but still by his side as they had been for years.

"You didn't really think we'd leave you on your own mate? I mean, scrawny little git like you wouldn't last five minutes without us. Couldn't have that on our conscience now could we?"

Ron yelped as Hermione hit him. She turned to look at her best friend, messy black hair sticking up all over the place- nothing much changed there-, so different from the small little boy who once saved her from a troll. So different and yet, she realised as he sat grinning at his friends' antics, nothing really changed. He would always be there, one third of a trio only complete with herself and Ron.

"We're your friends Harry." She reminded him. "There was never a choice. We need each other."

**Hope you enjoyed it, please review and tell me what you think :)**


	4. Pride

**So it's, er, been a while...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...**

**One exam left to go! And there's a few days to go until that one, so I managed to finish this chapter after my maths exam this morning. I never have to do maths again. I've been waiting for this moment for my entire school career...**

**If any of you who read the previous chapters are still here, you are amazing, I don't deserve to have your support after not writing for so long and I want to say a massive THANKYOU to everyone who's reviewed/ followed/added this to favorites so far. I love you all, thanks so, so much for your interest in this story!**

**Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling, so own nothing in the Potter universe.**

_Chapter 4- Pride_

"We should go." Ron said a while later, after a few minutes of them recovering together, talking, laughing, crying, _existing _together. "Down. To the hall. Find the others." The other two nodded; there was no point in delaying any longer, though Harry felt his stomach clench in nervous anticipation. What could he possibly say to them? To Ginny?

They walked out of the portrait hole in silence, making their way down the corridor, where they bumped into McGonagall heading in the opposite direction. The professor smiled at them and slowed down to talk.

"They're all in the Hall. I was just going to check on you actually. Don't give me that disbelieving look Weasley; I do actually care about my student's welfare. And someone needed to make sure the common-room wasn't in pieces."

They laughed nervously. McGonagall's eyes softened.

"We were worried about you."

Three pairs of tired, surprised eyes looked up at her. Well, not up at her. Minerva privately reflected on how much they'd grown.

"We did. It was- awful. Not your fault of course but knowing you were out there, doing Albus' work and not being able to do anything. I searched the newspapers every day looking for news. Not just you, all of you who had to run but especially you three."

She smiled suddenly.

"Which means you owe me an explanation. And your parents Weasley. There was a rumour going round about Gringotts and a dragon…"

She broke off as she saw their expressions.

"Oh no. Please tell me- even you wouldn't be that stupid- you can't seriously expect me to believe- a dragon!? A bloody dragon?!"

"In all fairness Professor, it's not the first time. There was actually a dragon in first year you know…"

Harry's voice trailed to a close as he saw his Head of House's face.

"Really Potter? You really want to bring that up now?"

The teenager grinned at her slightly sheepishly as she turned to go. As they continued down the hallway, she called out one last thing.

"Oh, and you three?"

They turned round to face her. There was a strange emotion burning in her eyes, a sort of fierce pride and grief and joy all mixed into one. She seemed to be searching for the right words to say before finally fixing them with a steady, proud gaze.

"Thankyou. I have…never been more proud of any of my students. Welcome back."

Then she was gone, heading towards the now empty common room. For a moment, the trio couldn't speak. It was, of course, Ron who broke the silence.

"So, I guess she missed us."

Harry grinned at his best mate.

"Nah, she didn't. With us gone, it must have practically a holiday."

His friends laughed as they continued towards the Hall, carefully navigating their way through the obstacle course of torn portraits, stones and other debris that littered the once passable corridors. All too soon they could see the great oak doors, seemingly untouched by the battle that had caused such devastation around them. As if by some unspoken consensus, the three battle veterans paused by the closed doors. Harry looked at the handle. Just one push…just take it, take the cold iron and push…

Behind those doors were the Weasley's. The closest thing to family he'd ever known. Behind those doors were Neville and Luna and Dean and Seamus and countless others he'd barely spoken to in almost a year.

Behind those doors was Ginny.

_Ginny._

It was with her name blazing a fire in his heart and behind his eyes that he finally pushed open the doors and stepped forwards. Towards his family, towards his friends.

Towards Ginny.

**Thanks for reading, please review and tell me what you think!**


	5. Reunion

**Sorry for the wait! I really wanted to get the reunion between Harry and Ginny right, so please do let me know if I manage it, I'm quite nervous to post this actually!**

**I'm going on holiday for 2 weeks and then am off camping for a week, so there will be a break in postings- sorry.**

**Thanks to everyone who's read, reviewed and added to favourites so far, it means a lot.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 5**

The first thing he noticed was quiet. For a room so full of people, it was strangely, deathly quiet, a room of choked sobs and lost murmurs as people tried to comprehend beginning to rebuild shattered lives and shattered hearts.

The second thing he noticed (He pointedly didn't notice Ron and Hermione joining hands behind him.) was the noise that suddenly swelled up at the sight of him, their saviour, the blessed Boy-Who-Lived, who stood before them in all his battle-weary, broken, triumphal glory.

The third thing he noticed was a girl with soft curves and glowing red hair stepping into his line of vision and slowly raising her brown eyes to meet his green ones. Aside from a fleeting moment when his victory was fresh and bodies wear pressing in on him from all sides, he hadn't really seen her since his return from death. As she took a hesitant step towards him, the Hall may as well have been empty and Ginny Weasley may as well have been an angel.

A small smile graced her lips and a thousand emotions flickered across her face. Harry watched her carefully. What were you supposed to say to a girlfriend you unwillingly broke up with so you could save the world, then abandoned for almost a year before turning up again and convincing her and everyone else you cared about you were dead?

They didn't teach that in Defence Against The Dark Arts.

Ginny came slowly towards him, their eyes drinking each other in as a blind man would his first glimpse of a summer's day, a drowned man gasping for air, their faces each to the other an oasis in a desert.

It had been a long road but they were finally home.

When they met, finally, Ginny looked, long, hard, searchingly into his face before brushing her lips against his and breathing in his scent, an act that sent a fiery jolt of pleasure through Harry's body because he had missed this, missed _her _so unbearably much.

She drew away far too quickly, the gesture not so much a kiss but a stolen moment to reassure her that he was still breathing, that he was truly, tangibly here.

As Harry slowly grinned at her, she drew her hand back and slapped him hard across the cheek, the impact reverberating around the rapt hall.

"That" she hissed, filled with both venom and a desperate love and longing she tried to push back. "Was for making me think you were dead, you stupid, noble asshole."

Harry closed his eyes for an achingly long second before opening them to once again meet with hers.

"I guess I deserved that." He murmured, grinning a little hopefully at her.

She glared at him, a trait learned from her mother and he cringed.

"No. Really?" each syllable drawn out and laced with daggers of sarcasm.

"Yes, Gin, really. And, Merlin, I am so, so sorry. And-" he held his hands up in a gesture of surrender and guilt. "-I know that doesn't even begin to cover it but it's a start. And Ginny, I want so much to start again with you."

She held a gentle finger up to his lips to silence him, before her whole body seemed to sag and wilt into his waiting arms.

"_Oh Harry." _she sighed before reaching up and leaning in towards him, pressing her lips against his, fiercely and desperately.

Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley kissed and it was like fire and ice all at once, the calm at the end of the storm and the storm itself, the union of two young souls ripped apart by war and death and destruction brought together once more in this precious dawning of peace.

In need of air, they broke the kiss and Harry could feel Ginny's lips quirk up in a smile to match his own.

"I missed you." She whispered into his ear before drawing back to face the long-forgotten spectators.

"I missed you too. Every day. I would take out the map and think of you." Harry replied.

The smile widened as Ginny took a step further back to drink in, once more, the sight of her battle-weary soldier.

"The great Harry Potter pining over me?"

Harry grinned.

"Always Gin. Let's start again."

"No Voldemort, no dark, dangerous quest you have to leave me to go on?"

"No, that's done."

"Ok then Harry Potter. Let's give it a try."

She leaned closer.

"I think you and I could be amazing."

**Let me know what you think!**

**TheWordThief xx**


	6. Reconciliation

**Hi guys, sorry for the wait, I really wanted to get this chapter right- it's the long-awaited conversation between Ron and Hermione. I hope I've done it justice, please let me know what you think! I've just started my A-Levels so will be very busy so if updates sometimes get few and far between, I promise that I will never abandon this or any other fic. Also, NEW HARRY POTTER FILMS!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it all belongs to JK Rowling and Warner Bros.**

In retrospect, kissing the girl of his dreams in a backdrop of destruction surrounded by crowds of war veterans, including all of the said girl's surviving immediate family, probably wasn't the best idea. He pulled back from Ginny with some trepidation and hazarded a glace at the Weasleys. Bill, Charlie and Percy looked as if they had gone into stereotypical older brother mode, stock-still and thunderstruck. There was a hint of an old smirk playing around George's lips but it was incomplete without his twin. Vaguely, Harry wondered if Fred would have been pleased. Arthur stood with his arm around his wife, who was beaming, looking as though he'd predicted this all along. And behind them, arms round each other, were Ron and Hermione, Hermione grinning smugly and Ron looking vaguely confused but reasonably pleased. Harry guessed he'd resigned himself to this long ago. He supposed all in all, it had gone rather well. He'd kissed a Weasley girl and the world hadn't burned under the wrath of her brothers. It could have been worse. Ginny leaned to whisper into his ear.

"You know, maybe next time, we should go somewhere a little more…private."

Harry and Ginny were sat in the corner, talking, oblivious to the world, and to the fair few stares they were still receiving. Ron wished they weren't. He could have done with Harry's presence to prevent the awkwardness that had sprung up between him and Hermione as they sat together. He'd kissed her, or she had kissed him and it had been better than he ever could have dreamed, holding her, breathing in her scent and knowing she was there and alive and kissing him. But now they finally ahd a chance to sit down and start to process what had happened, they were hardly speaking and could any kiss be worth this? If there was one thing he'd never wanted to do, it was ruin their friendship.

And that was when Ron Weasley, who usually took a back sheet, who was content to let Harry lead him, who wasted so much time because he couldn't take the initiative to tell Hermione how he felt about her, who put his foot in it, who grasped the wrong end of the stick, who hurt people just because he didn't know they would get hurt, grew up. He stopped waiting for the world to go in the right direction because when had it ever done that? The world was a mess- there was never going to be another moment like this one, no opportune moment to let Hermione know how he felt, no other first kiss. Fred was dead, Voldemort gone, the castle in ruins. The world had changed; his feelings had not.

Taking a deep breath, he turned to the girl sitting beside him.

"Hermione? Can we talk?"

She turned to face him, frowning slightly in confusion. Ron could feel his face heating up as he struggled to begin. Dammit, why did this always have to be so hard?

"You kissed me." He blurted out and instantly regretted it when she looked away, cheeks burning.

"Yes, I suppose I did." She said softly and lifted her head to look him in the eye.

"Well, jumped me actually, threw yourself at me, it was a bit scary to be honest Hermione, you can be bloody terrifying sometimes, you know that?"

Hermione sighed.

"Ronald, please stop talking."

He did.

"I'm sorry for throwing myself at you, clearly I must have seemed desperate, although I'd like to point out that you didn't exactly seem to mind."

"No, no, I didn't, it's just that…"

"It's just that what?" Hermione was one of those girls that had the amazing and slightly terrifying ability to hide their hurt beneath a death glare that would have frightened away even Voldemort, Ron reflected as he realised he was on the receiving end of such a glare and wondered what he'd done to deserve it.

"Nothing! I liked it."

"You _liked _it?"

He was making such a mess of things. Again.

_Just do it. Just find her voice and tell her._

"No. Actually no, Hermione, I didn't _like _it. I loved it. I love you. I always have. It was never Lavender, or Fleur, I was just stupid, it was you, it's always been you really, I just couldn't see it."

Hermione was staring at him with her eyes rapidly filling with tears, her bushy hair still grimy and roughly pulled back into a bun, face covered in shadows and bruises and scrapes. She had never been so beautiful. The Yule Bull had nothing on this moment, in the dusty, broken hall because on that night, she had been a delicate princess on the arm of a handsome prince he couldn't compete with and today she was a victorious warrior, who had come from hell and had not been broken and was sitting here next to him, both of them victors, both of them losers, both of them veterans of a journey only themselves and Harry would ever understand.

"Then why did you spend all last year putting me down and messing round with Lavender?" she whispered.

"Because I was stupid Hermione. Stupid and jealous. I messed around with Lavender because I didn't know how to say no, because no-one had ever been interested in me like that and because I thought you certainly never would be. And I hurt you and you hurt me and we've been dancing round each other ever since."

She stared at him for a moment before replying.

"Of course I thought of you like that! Merlin's beard Ron, how could you be so stupid?! I set bloody _canaries _on you when you went of with Lavender for Merlin's sake, how much more obvious could I be?" She was shouting now and a few people had started to stare but neither of them noticed or cared. "I was hurting and you didn't seem to care until I did the same thing to you and _dammit _Ron, when did it all go so wrong?"

Ron was reeling from her outburst but one thing stuck in his mind.

"You thought of me like that? You still do? But I thought-"

Hermione cut him off.

"I love you Ron, I'm bloody _in _love with you and you can't even see it! I kissed you and you still don't even know, you stupid, pig-headed imbecile!"

_I'm bloody in love with you._

Ron leaned in and kissed her.

She tasted of hope and regret and second chances.

He cupped the back of her neck and she curled her hands into his hair and leaned in closer, pushing them together. He could feel her smiling against his lips.

When they broke apart, they heard laughter behind them and looked over to see Harry and Ginny standing a little way back, curiosity obviously haven taken precedence over granting their friends their privacy. Ginny was evidently finding it rather amusing while Harry was grinning at his two best friends in pride.

"About time you sorted that out."

Hermione rolled her eyes before turning to face Ron once more.

"That's twice now. I really don't know how much clearer I can make it. So have you got it?"

Ron grinned at her.

"I think so. Though technically, I kissed you the second time."

Hermione laughed.

**Hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review!**

**-TheWordThief**


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